The Maranacook/Winthrop hockey team received a nice bump in Heal points after it beat Waterville 3-2 last Saturday. The Hawks, winners of three straight, moved up from seventh to fifth in competitive Western B.

“That game was a must-win for us,” Maranacook/Winthrop first-year coach Chip Jones said. “It was a hard-fought win but it also proved that we belong in the mix. It really sunk in that we beat the No. 2 team in (Eastern B).”

Zach Glazier scored with 37 seconds left in regulation Saturday to give the Hawks (4-3-0) the win over Waterville (5-2-1).

“Hopefully, this victory gives us more recognition,” Jones said.

Jared Hanson, Glazier and Nick Lacasse lead the Hawks up front. Josh Ehiorobo is providing solid play in net and Maranacook/Winthrop is allowing just 2.3 goals a game since the calender flipped to 2014.

“Our lines are starting to get the cohesiveness together,” Jones said, “but what I’m liking most is that the tempo of our game is increasing. We’re skating to areas with purpose. We’re just playing more sound as a team.”

The Hawks at Hampden (3-2-2) on Wednesday.

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Cony/Monmouth (5-4-0) has lost three of its last four games, including an 8-1 loss to St. Dominic last Saturday.

The Saints (3-3-1) scored five goals in the first period and coasted to the Eastern A victory. It was the second time in four games the Rams allowed at least four goals in the opening period. Bangor scored four first-period goals in an 8-2 win over Cony on Dec. 28.

“We had a really rough first period against St. Dom’s,” Cony/Monmouth coach Chad Foye said. “When things started going bad, we had guys who tried to do too much and guys who didn’t do enough. It was a bad combination.”

The Rams don’t play again until Saturday, when they host Poland/Gray-New Gloucester. Foye said that there may be some changes this week.

“We have to do something,” he said. “Now, it’s not like we’re losing to teams that can’t play, but we have to change up something. It might just be our attitude. We are going to have do better in the second half.”

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The Kents Hill boys have logged some miles in recent weeks. Two weeks ago, the Huskies ventured to Boston for a tournament that Tabor Academy hosted.

Last weekend, Kents Hill participated in a tournament at Stanstead College in Quebec. The Huskies went 1-2-1 north of the border and are 5-7-2 overall.

“We’ve been busy,” Kents Hill coach Larry Cockrell said. “We’re hanging in there.”

The team was without injured forwards Riley Boivin (shoulder) and Joey Savinski (abdominal) in Quebec.

Kents Hill will play the Middlesex Black Bears, a junior team from Massachusetts, on Wednesday before it embarks on a 12-game stretch of league games that will decide its playoff fate.

“It’s going to be pretty big,” Cockrell said. “From this Saturday on, we’ll basically be playing all league games.”

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Messalonskee (7-0-0) had its game last Saturday at Houlton/Hodgdon postponed and it won’t play again until it meets Orono/Old Town on Friday at the University of Maine.

The time off will benefit the two-time defending Eastern B champs, coach Mike Latendresse said.

“We haven’t had a good week to practice since training camp,” he said. “We’ve had some time off, around the holidays and with the weather, but not just time to practice.”

The Eagles are rolling, having outscored the opposition 48-12 in seven games. Still, Latendresse said there are several areas in which thy need to improve.

“Our neutral zone play definitely needs to be better,” he said. “We need to be tougher to play against in that area. The other aspect I’m still not pleased with is our special teams play, especially on the power play. Sometimes we’re trying to be too cute, too fancy. We’re creating but we haven’t had good results.

“This time off will really help us. We’ll get ready for the second-third of the year and try to refocus.”

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AROUND THE STATE: Two-time defending Class B state champ Greely is off to a 1-4-2 start, and to make matters worse it learned standout junior goalie Kyle Kramlich could miss significant time after fracturing his wrist in practice last Tuesday. “It happened out of nowhere,” Greely coach Barry Mothes said. “It’s frustrating and it’s devastating. We don’t know the prognosis but he could be out for quite awhile.” Senior Christian Kroot started in net the last two games for the Rangers. … Lewiston (7-1-0) is one of the hottest teams in the state. The Blue Devils have won five consecutive games against formidable competition. They have victories over Greely, St. Dom’s, Falmouth, Biddeford and Thornton Academy. “We’re moving the puck very well,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said. “We’ve really been playing well defensively. We’ve been limiting quality shots and against some tough teams, too.”

Bill Stewart — 621-5640bstewart@centralmaine.comTwitter: @billstewartkj